I have found success with the usual braises, soups, etc. but I am interested if anyone has tried out any of the cheesecake recipes out there for the Instant Pot and what those results looked like. I have seen similar recipes for cheesecake and deep dish pizzas for slow cookers but I have never given one a shot.

“There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

Not a fan of cheesecake but last week I made a terrific (Not Key) Lime Pie in the IP. It's the perfect size for four and no leftovers.

I bought my IP on Black Friday 2016. I've had a 100% success rate: Chili, stock, rice, bolognese, stew, curry, and jook. I've been making a lot of hard boiled eggs and have made three batches of Greek yogurt in the last week. It's my favorite kitchen appliance.

Wonderful article about the Instant Pot in this weekend’s WSJ. This writer worked her way up to cooking a four course meal from Julia Child’s The Art of French Cooking --- at a vacation home in Cape Cod. She was inspired by “an essay the novelist Jhumpa Lahiri once wrote. She made the case that you could cook everything you need during a summer getaway in a single cast-iron pan.” She made “a quartet of resolutely summery classics: homard à l’Américaine, ratatouille and soubise (a sweet onion risotto)—plus a fudgy (and gluten-free) gâteau Reine de Saba to finish it off.” Great summer food writing. Read it here

janeyb wrote:My Prime purchase too! Will be following this thread for ideas.

If you are a Facebook user seek out the InstantPot Cooks (All Pots Welcome) group; they have a few ancillary groups as well. Between that group and the Instant Pot for Indian Cooking FB group (one of my fave's) there's a ton of information shared. Once upon a time the official Instant Pot FB group was quite good but it became kind of Reddit-ized and lost its appeal. Also know that SeriousEats has published quite a number of articles and recipes based upon pressure cooker usage.

As is mentioned up thread, hard-cooked (not really boiled, right?) eggs are just a breeze with this device. I just use a conventional steamer basket and cook up to a dozen eggs with a cup of water. 5 minutes on low pressure and the eggs are cooked perfectly, with zero gray/green on the outside of the yolks. And the best part is how incredibly easy they are to peel.

We also discovered that corn on the cob is totally awesome when cooked in the Instant Pot. Again, 1 cup of water, steamer basket and 2 minutes on high pressure, and you've got some of the tastiest, sweetest, plumpest kernels you'll ever enjoy. I do also like grilled corn, especially when making elotes or esquites but for boiled or steamed, the Instant Pot rules.

=R=

Why don't you take these profiteroles and put them up your shi'-ta-holes? --Jemaine & Bret

pairs4life wrote:Hmmm, so does this device operate as both a slow cooker and a pressure cooker?

Yes and apparently, 5 other cooking modes as well. I often use the Saute' mode before pressure cooking, depending on what I'm making. It has a low-med-high toggle and works very well for searing meat or sweating vegetables before further cooking.

=R=

Why don't you take these profiteroles and put them up your shi'-ta-holes? --Jemaine & Bret

My wife bought one of these, because advertising told her to.She also bought a fancy electric pressure cooker a year ago, because I use them, and our old one broke. I used the Instant Pot to make rice a few weeks ago. (Our 10 yr old rice cooker recently broke.)

Wise LTH members - is this instant-pot just a re-marketed electric pressure cooker?

We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.

seebee wrote:My wife bought one of these, because advertising told her to.She also bought a fancy electric pressure cooker a year ago, because I use them, and our old one broke. I used the Instant Pot to make rice a few weeks ago. (Our 10 yr old rice cooker recently broke.)

Wise LTH members - is this instant-pot just a re-marketed electric pressure cooker?

I'm not even sure it's re-marketed. That's what it is (though they did add some other functions).

seebee wrote:My wife bought one of these, because advertising told her to.She also bought a fancy electric pressure cooker a year ago, because I use them, and our old one broke. I used the Instant Pot to make rice a few weeks ago. (Our 10 yr old rice cooker recently broke.)

Wise LTH members - is this instant-pot just a re-marketed electric pressure cooker?

I don't know what you mean by the term "re-marketed"? Yes, it's an electric pressure cooker (EPC). Like many EPC's on the market today it touts the ability to perform multiple functions beyond simple PC - among them a slow cooker and a yogurt maker as well as saute (for sweating veggies or browning meats prior to the main cooking). Like many EPC's it also has a bunch of special function buttons (rice, beans/chili, meat/stew, poultry, etc.) that are designed to provide a one-touch ability to cook a particular food. That said, other than saute and yogurt, I almost exclusively use the manual setting. There are a number of different InstantPot models at different price points. Another company, GoWise, produces a remarkably similar product (manufactured in same facility and uses a stainless steel liner) to the IP at a lower price point that if I were buying a new EPC today I would probably select over the IP.

I'm doing a slow-cooker butter chicken recipe in my Instant Pot. It's the first time I've used it as a slow cooker, but I'm wondering about the temps. I have it set on high, and it's been going for about three hours. My thermometer says the sauce is just above 190, and the chicken pieces (all bone-in thighs) are 150. The recipe has another two or three hours to go; I know the chicken will be edible if it gets up to 155, but I was wondering if this was typical. It seems like 190 should be about the lowest heat, not the highest, for a slow cooker, but I'm not very familiar with them.

Is this what your slow cooker does?

“Assuredly it is a great accomplishment to be a novelist, but it is no mediocre glory to be a cook.” -- Alexandre Dumas

"I give you Chicago. It is no London and Harvard. It is not Paris and buttermilk. It is American in every chitling and sparerib. It is alive from tail to snout." -- H.L. Mencken

mamagotcha wrote:I'm doing a slow-cooker butter chicken recipe in my Instant Pot. It's the first time I've used it as a slow cooker, but I'm wondering about the temps. I have it set on high, and it's been going for about three hours. My thermometer says the sauce is just above 190, and the chicken pieces (all bone-in thighs) are 150. The recipe has another two or three hours to go; I know the chicken will be edible if it gets up to 155, but I was wondering if this was typical. It seems like 190 should be about the lowest heat, not the highest, for a slow cooker, but I'm not very familiar with them.

Is this what your slow cooker does?

The IP resources I follow pretty universally report what you are seeing. The slow cooker function on the IP operates at a very low temp compared to "real" slow cookers/crockpots. Many have been unpleasantly surprised when following a normal slow cooker recipe and unknowingly using the default settings (not adjusting to High, which is not much higher than most SC's Low). The IP does many things quite well but the slow cooker function is probably its weakest.

Well, if your household is anything like mine, I'd suggest "making" room in the closet or pantry to store it in the box next to the deep fryer, soda maker, ice cream maker, crock pots, and ninja blender.

(I'll be here all week, folks. Make sure to tip the waitstaff.)

We cannot be friends if you do not know the difference between Mayo and Miracle Whip.

Besides the usual "it is so easy it is amazing" and "you have to spend time learning how to do it" contradictions, there are notes about new Instant Pot-based cookbooks just out or on their way (apparently --yes-- a 'slew').

Four are mentioned:

'Instant Pot Miracle' by Deb Brody, out now'The Essential Instant Pot Cookbook' by Coco Morante, out now'How to Instant Pot' by Daniel Shumski, out Oct. 31'Adventures in Slow Cooking' by Sarah DiGregorio, out now

Are you familiar with any of these titles? Do you have a recommendation for an Instant Pot cookbook for complete beginners? Can you say what makes the cookbook useful or interesting?

Holiday gift-giving season is bearing down on us. I have this thought that it might be kind to include a cookbook with any gift of an Instant Pot.

The latest issue of Consumer Reports has test results from a range of small appliances, including toaster ovens, blenders, microwaves, and pressure cookers. One of the pressure cookers they like is only $30. They also review the Instant Pot. They are mostly very positive about it. The only problem with it that they see is that it does not have enough power to adequately sear meat. They also talk about diets in this issue, and they give their opinion about the gluten free diet. Many public libraries have the web version of CR on their website.

There are tons of Instant Pot cookbooks out now. I know one of the cookbooks that has gotten good reviews has Indian recipes in it. Apparently the Instant Pot lends itself well to Indian cooking. Hope this helps, Nancy

NFriday wrote:The only problem with it that they see is that it does not have enough power to adequately sear meat.

There are 3 temperature settings for sear mode and on medium or high, I have no problem adequately browning meat in the Instant Pot. I do have the 8-quart model. Perhaps they were testing on the 6-quart or some other model? Or maybe they just overfilled the pot?

=R=

Why don't you take these profiteroles and put them up your shi'-ta-holes? --Jemaine & Bret

NFriday wrote:The latest issue of Consumer Reports has test results from a range of small appliances, including toaster ovens, blenders, microwaves, and pressure cookers. One of the pressure cookers they like is only $30. They also review the Instant Pot. They are mostly very positive about it. The only problem with it that they see is that it does not have enough power to adequately sear meat. They also talk about diets in this issue, and they give their opinion about the gluten free diet. Many public libraries have the web version of CR on their website.

Thanks for this heads-up, Nancy. I like being able to access Consumer Reports online via my local library.

NFriday wrote:The only problem with it that they see is that it does not have enough power to adequately sear meat.

There are 3 temperature settings for sear mode and on medium or high, I have no problem adequately browning meat in the Instant Pot. I do have the 8-quart model. Perhaps they were testing on the 6-quart or some other model? Or maybe they just overfilled the pot?

=R=

I haven't had an issue with my 6-quart pot. As you said, there are three settings. You have to hit "adjust" (and not the plus or minus buttons, which I once tried and assumed there was no way to adjust searing temps until I looked through the manual later). It works fine for me but, as always, don't overcrowd.

slate.com wrote:This year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday might as well as been the start of recruiting season for the world’s newest, tastiest cult. The Instant Pot may, on its stainless-steel surface, appear to merely be a moderately well-priced hybrid of a pressure cooker and slow cooker. But its hype and reception have been something else. It tops Amazon’s U.S. home and kitchen best-sellers list, and the company said it was one of its top-selling items on Black Friday this year. The New York Times released a lengthy guide to its use, explaining its yogurt-making utility and outlining its many components. It is seemingly on every publication’s Cyber Monday list. More than 763,000 people are members of the largest Facebook group devoted to Instant Pot use. A Bloomberg critic raved, “This is a magical pot” like she was writing a fairy tale instead of a review of an 11.8-pound food preparation tool.